Page 14 of Shadow's Heart
“He attacked me. I knew you wouldn’t believe me. So I went to someone I knew would.” She says, tears running down her face.
Lies. Every word out of her mouth is a goddamn lie, and if anyone in this room even thinks of believing her, I’m going to become their worst fucking nightmare. Taking a quick glance, I’m glad to see everyone looking at her in disbelief. Even the two men who have never met Wreck before don’t believe a word coming out of her fucking mouth.
Clearly she didn’t do her research very well when she picked her lie. Wreck would never fucking touch anyone who didn’t deserve it, and he certainly would never attack someone smaller than himself. Whether man, woman, or child. He hates people who harm those weaker than themselves. He fucking despises it. For fuck sake, he willingly handed himself over to Rex and his team to protect Sera and the unborn baby she’s carrying. Yeah, that sounds like the actions of a man who attacked my girlfriend. Not.
I don’t know what Megan hoped to achieve with her lies or how she ever thought she could hide the hand she played in all of this, even if we never got Wreck back. Eventually we’d have discovered the truth because I would never have stopped looking.
Standing from my chair, I turn towards Wreck. Despite my anger at Megan, guilt threatens to swallow me whole. He’s lying there after going through God knows only what because of me. It’s my fault. I brought Megan into our orbit; if I’d stayed awayfrom her, he wouldn’t be lying like this right now. He’d be safe and uninjured living his life.
Turning back around, I let my control over my anger go. I’ve never felt like this before. My anger is so strong, I’m pretty sure everyone present can feel it. Probably even Wreck in his state of unconsciousness.
“You’re fucking lying. You can sit there spouting all the lies you want, forcing the crocodile tears, but everything you just said is bullshit. I know you well enough to know when you’re lying, Megan.”
“Shadow, I’m not lying.” She wails out, determined to stick to her bullshit story.
My entire body is shaking with the force of my anger mixing with guilt. Megan sitting there and trying to stick to her lies isn’t helping one bit. I know I’ll regret it later if I do something to her and hurt her. No matter how much I want to make her pay for what she’s done. Walking away from Wreck’s side for the first time since I entered his hospital room, I head directly to the closest wall and punch it repeatedly. Hard. I need some way to vent what I’m feeling right now, and this seems like the best option that leaves me as the only person with injuries. I don’t want to accidentally lose my shit and hurt someone in this room who doesn’t deserve it. I’d hate myself even more than I currently do if that happened.
I can hear Megan hysterically crying in the background, but I don’t care. Fuck her. I’m so fucking done. She’s going to regret her actions. I will find a way to make her pay. I have no idea how, but I fucking will. She’s not going to get away with this. She seriously fucking messed up targeting Wreck; the woman has no idea just how far I’ll go when it comes to that man. She’s about to find out, though.
Chapter Eighteen
Wreck
What in the world is going on right now? Regaining consciousness to the sounds of screaming, crying, and sounds of flesh hitting something over and over isn’t what I was expecting at all. Despite the pain my body is currently in, I focus on the sounds to try and figure out what the hell is going on right now.
“Shadow, you need to stop; your hands are a fucking mess.” I hear Wrath say. I can clearly hear the worry in his voice as he speaks.
“I don’t care; I need to fucking vent this anger somehow.” I’ve never in all the time I’ve known Shadow heard him sound so angry. What the hell is going on? Why is my normally happy-go-lucky friend losing his mind? And who the fuck is wailing like that? They need to shut up; they’re making my head hurt more.
Slowly opening my eyes, I take in the scene currently happening in my hospital room. It’s fucking insane. Shadow is standing, punching the holy hell out of a wall, with Wrath and Flame trying to talk him down. From the way he’s going at the wall, I don’t blame either of them for not trying to physically stop him; he’d cause some serious fucking damage if they tried. If that wall was a person, they’d be beaten to a bloody pulp.Megan is sitting across the room; she’s the one wailing away, causing the pain in my skull to increase. She seriously needs to shut the fuck up. There’s two men I’ve never met before blocking the exit to my room, both looking on, showing no emotion to the scene currently taking place in front of them. Then there’s Jake, the guy I owe my life to, standing not far from them, looking equal parts unhappy and worried at the scene taking place. It’s certainly a combination of emotions showing on his face right now.
“Alex.” I manage to croak out through my seriously dry throat. I know I need to get his attention before he causes himself some serious fucking damage. Or well, more fucking damage than he’s already clearly done up to this point.
My voice isn’t very loud, but he must hear me because his fists stop flying almost immediately, and he spins to face me so fast I’m surprised he doesn’t fall over. My heart hurts when I get my first look at his face. His chocolate brown eyes give away the lack of sleep he’s clearly had; they’re bloodshot and surrounded by black circles. The happiness that’s normally always in his eyes is nowhere in sight. It’s not a look I like on him at all. His fists are now hanging down by his side, and I can see blood dripping on the floor from the damage he’s caused himself in his war with the wall. The thing that worries me most though is the emotions on his face; he looks fucking angry and scared. I’ve never seen that combination of emotions on his face before, and I don’t like it one bit.
While I’ve been staring at Shadow, Flame’s made his way to my side and is passing me a cup of water. Thank God for his forethought. I need this drink before I can talk more, and I know I’m going to need to be able to talk in order to find out what the hell is going on. Giving him a small nod of thanks, I take the drink and take a couple of sips. Placing the cup back down, I turn my attention back to Shadow.
“Come here.” I say not breaking eye contact with him.
He starts shaking his head in protest. Yeah, that’s not happening; he’s going to get his ass over here, even if I have to get Wrath or Flame to physically move him. Hell, if I have to, I’ll force myself out of this bed. One way or another, he’ll be by my side.
“Now Alex. Come. Here.”
“I can’t. It’s all my fault.”
What the fuck is he talking about? It’s not his fault; it’s the fault of whoever lied to my torturer. Why would he think it’s his fault? I glance around the room at everyone present; all the men are looking at Shadow in disbelief, while Megan looks equal parts angry, scared, and pissed off.
“Can someone please fucking tell me what’s going on and why the fuck he thinks it’s his fault?” I all but demand. Someone in this room knows why he thinks this, and I want a fucking explanation and fast.
To my surprise, it’s Jake who speaks. “Because I figured out Megan was the reason you were taken by my brother Rex. She lied to him about you attacking her.” Jake starts to explain, but I cut him off before he can carry on. I don’t need him to say another word. He’s already filled in the major question I had when it comes to who lied.
“You don’t need to say anything else, Jake. I didn’t realize he was your brother, but he told me why he’d taken me. He just didn’t give me the name of my accuser.” I say keeping my attention on Jake while I speak, even though the only person I really want to focus on right now is Shadow.
Jake gives me a nod, and I know I need to talk more to him later. I can’t even begin to imagine what he must be feeling right now; he’s in an impossible situation, but for now I really do need to focus on Shadow. Guilt is going to eat him alive if he carrieson with his line of thinking, and I know I’m going to be the only person who’s going to be able to talk any sense into him.
“Alex. Get your ass over here right now. Don’t make me have to try and get out of this bed. It will hurt, but I’ll fucking do it.” I tell him, making sure he can hear just how serious I am.
He must realize I’m deadly serious, because he’s at my side in the blink of an eye. He just stands next to my bed, looking so fucking lost. Reaching my hand out, I grab his and pull him down so his face is level with mine. I need him to look into my eyes as I speak so he understands I mean every word I’m about to say.
